Bah humbug

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Is it just me, or is anyone else relieved to find themselves in a brand new year? I seem to be turning into a grinch.

The build-up to Christmas, admittedly magnified this year for me by the glowering presence of exams, is a source of stress and irritation rather than comfort and joy. Now it’s all done and dusted, I can’t wait to take down all the decorations and cards and get back to normality. I have a yearning for simplicity and order, for white walls and wooden tables, for a monastery-like emptiness and calm after the jangling jolliness of a commercial Christmas.

Perhaps next year I will make my wish come true to spend Christmas Day in a house by the sea. I would love to walk for miles with my family on a beach (whatever the weather) and then be joined by friends for a relaxed dinner. Not a TV Christmas special in sight.